by Nerys Leigh
Lark recoiled, his eyes widening, and he raised his palms. “I didn’t mean it, it was a jest.” Laughing nervously, he looked at Rufus. “I know you wouldn’t let anyone cheat in one of your games.”
A shrewdness touched Rufus’ seemingly relaxed expression as he regarded Will. “Something on your mind, William?”
Will forced his features into neutrality. Getting angry wouldn’t help him. “No. I just don’t like being accused of cheating.”
Lark’s neck bobbed and he lowered his hands. “No accusation meant, I swear.”
The door opened and Rebecca walked inside. At the tension in the room, she hesitated. “Should I come back?”
Rufus waved her in. “You’re just in time. I think a round of drinks is just what we need.”
Lark nodded, glancing at Will nervously. “I’ll have a whisky. Make it a double.”
Will sat back down as the other men ordered sarsaparillas. They’d stopped drinking alcohol an hour previously.
Rebecca smiled at Will. “Mr. Raine? Anything for you?”
Maybe this was a good time to accelerate things, use his loss of control to his advantage. He had enough money now. “I’ll have a gin.”
A raised eyebrow was Rufus’ only reaction to the order. The other men stared at him in open surprise.
Lark smiled and immediately tried to hide it with a cough.
Giving no indication she was about to do anything but give Will a gin, Rebecca nodded and left.
Lark looked at Rufus who was gathering up the cards. “How about we take this game to the next level? Remove the betting limits?”
Rufus tapped the edge of the re-formed deck on the tabletop to straighten the pile. “If no one else objects, I’m happy to go along with that.” He looked around the table.
“Fine by me,” Howell said.
“Me too,” said Lowe.
Dunlap shrugged. “No problem.”
Will raised his eyes from his money briefly and nodded once. He lowered his gaze again, but not before he noticed a veiled smirk twitch at Lark’s mouth. Lark thought he had the upper hand. More money sat on the table in front of him, and now he had the idea that Will was nervous.
Will was nervous; he didn’t have to fake that part. Although it wasn’t for the reason Lark thought.
Rebecca returned with the drinks a couple of minutes later and Will took the glass she gave him and downed the contents in two mouthfuls, part of him wishing it really was gin. He coughed, to sell it. He was actually thankful for the water. His mouth was dry.
The other men watched as he asked Rebecca for another. If the stakes hadn’t been so high, he might have enjoyed the bluff.
They played a few more hands, with Will pretending to get ever more agitated. He even purposely lost a couple, although only because he folded early when he would lose the least amount of money. He ordered another drink from Rebecca, vaguely wondering if he’d be charged for the water it was or the gin it pretended to be. Although if he won this, it wouldn’t really matter.
And he would win it. He had to.
Each new hand brought new opportunity. The thrill of the game returned, the reason he’d spent so many years playing. It was addicting, enticing, and thrilling, and he let himself fall back into the rhythm of bets and raises, calls and folds, always watching his opponents for the telltale signs of deception.
Everything else faded away. Even Daisy and Nicky retreated to the back of his mind. All there was was the game.
He was good at this. And he would win.
The pots grew much faster with the betting limits removed, and then finally his chance came.
Will stared at the three queens in the new cards Rufus had just dealt him. It was a once in a game hand.
He tapped his forefinger against the edge of the cards, once. It was a habit he’d been cultivating all through the game when he had a bad hand. He always folded when he tapped the cards.
He raised his eyes to watch the other players pick up and rearrange their cards.
Lowe had a good hand. He’d raise.
Howell had a bad hand. He’d fold.
Dunlap could go either way.
Rufus was always hard to read. Will would wait to judge.
And Lark… Will couldn’t tell, which was rare. He’d been betting high even when he had mediocre hands for the last few rounds. Will suspected he was trying to force the others from the game. There was no eye twitch.
The first round of betting began.
Dunlap checked. Will bet high. Lark raised. Howell folded. Lowe called, Rufus folded, and then Dunlap called.
In the draw, Dunlap took three cards and promptly slapped his hand face down onto the table with an irritated grunt. Will took two, holding them face down without looking at them. Lark took one. Lowe took three.
Will lifted his cards.
The fourth queen stared back at him, along with a ten.
With great effort, he kept his face straight and his breathing under control. This hand could win him enough to save Daisy and Nicky.
Everyone looked to Dunlap for the first bet.
He waved a hand at his cards lying face down on the table. “The cards hate me tonight. I fold.”
“Will?” Rufus said.
“Check.” Before he bet, he wanted to see what Lark did.
Lark narrowed his eyes at him, then looked at his cards. There was no reaction on his face. Did he have a good hand? Bad? Will couldn’t tell any more.
And then Lark took a sizable portion of his money and sent it to join the first round of bets in the middle of the table. “I bet five hundred.”
Will’s gut fell. If he was betting that much, he had a very good hand. Maybe better than Will’s four queens.
Lowe tossed his cards down. “Well, that’s me out.”
And that left just Lark and Will.
Will stared at his cards. He could win it all, right now. But he could also lose it all, and not just the money. If he made a mistake, he might not be able to save Daisy and Nicky.
But if he didn’t try, he might lose them anyway.
Barely able to keep the tremble from his hands, he pushed almost the entire pile of money in front of him to the center. “I see your five hundred, and raise another five hundred.”
Lark’s eyebrows shot up. And then he smiled. “You either have a very good hand or you’re a very good bluffer.” He counted out the extra five hundred and tossed it onto the pile of money. “Call.”
There was now exactly $2098 in the pot, enough to save Daisy and Nicky. But was Will’s hand enough to win it?
He had never before prayed to win when he gambled. This time, he did. Please, Lord, for Daisy and Nicky.
With a grin that practically swallowed his entire face, Lark placed his cards face up onto the table, fanning them out with a flourish.
Will’s breath caught. For a few moments, no air entered his lungs.
He placed his own cards down.
Lark looked between Will’s four queens and his own hand.
One ace.
And four jacks.
And his smile faded.
Will closed his eyes and breathed out.
Lark slowly shook his head. “If I wasn’t an obscenely wealthy man, I’d be very annoyed right now.” And then his smile returned, and he held out his hand. “Well done, Mr. Raine. Please don’t take this as an affront, but I hope Rufus never lets you into one of these games again.”
Will shook his hand. “Don’t worry, I’m retiring.”
He gathered up the money from the center of the table and stood.
Rufus regarded him coolly. “Not even going to give us a chance to win some of that back?”
“No,” Will said quickly, before the compulsion to say yes overcame his good sense.
He counted out sixty dollars for Rufus, bid the other men at the table farewell, and walked from the room.
Once back out in the bar, he sagged against the wall and breathed out.
He’d never
won so much in his life. He’d never tried. Part of him reveled in the knowledge that he had succeeded. That he could do it again, if he wanted to.
With the money he could make, he could buy the rest of the lumber for the extra rooms Dan’s house needed for the twins. He could even hire someone else to build them.
He could buy his own house. His own farm.
He could…
Swallowing, he pushed away from the wall.
No.
Gambling had put the people he loved in danger. As tempting as it was, he wasn’t going to start again.
He spotted Daniel at a table close to the door. Briggs was with him.
Before Will could start in their direction, Rebecca walked up to him.
“How did it go?”
He smiled. “I won what I needed to. Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
She returned his smile. “I doubt that, but I’m glad I could help.”
After returning the fifty dollars plus twenty percent Rufus had lent him to play, he had $2284 left. He counted out $284 and handed it to her. “Do me a favor and split this between all the girls? I wish I could give you more, but I need the rest. None of you deserve this life, and I’m sorry for my part in it.”
She took the money and pushed it down the front of her low cut dress. “Thank you. None of us ever thought badly of you, you should know that. You treated us well, like human beings, instead of…”
Her voice faltered and she lowered her eyes for a moment. It was a rare slip of the façade she usually wore and it was gone in a moment, but it nevertheless tugged at Will’s heart.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted her gaze, her smile returning. “Anyway, will you be coming back?”
He looked around the room. For six years he’d spent more time here than almost anywhere else. It had been like a second home to him, and despite everything, part of him still wanted to stay.
But the rest of him, the part that knew how much more he had to live for outside these four walls, finally didn’t.
“No, I won’t be coming back.” He returned his eyes to her. “I hope you get the life you want, one day.”
Her smile became wistful. “So do I. And I hope you do too.”
Will left Rebecca and made his way across the room.
Briggs stood as he walked up to the table. “You got it?”
Will spoke to Dan. “Have you been here the entire time?”
“Yup.” He nodded at Briggs. “He’s been here too, although he’s hardly a scintillating conversationalist.”
Briggs frowned at him. “A what?”
Dan ignored him. “How are you?”
Will knew he wasn’t talking about the game. “I’m all right, I really am. And thank you.”
Briggs grabbed Will’s arm. “I said, have you got my money?”
Will jerked out of his grasp. “Not here.”
Briggs sneered but stood and headed for the door, Dan following.
With one last look around, Will left the saloon for the last time.
Chapter 23
“Well?” Briggs demanded, the moment they reached the street.
“I have it.”
Briggs held out his hand.
“Not until Daisy and Nicky are safe. Tell me where they are and you’ll get your money.”
“Give me the money and I’ll tell you where they are.”
Will’s right hand fisted at his side, and it was all he could do to not drive it into Briggs’ face. “That’s not how this is going to go. I got you the money, I did what you wanted. Now it’s your turn to play by my rules.”
Briggs narrowed his eyes. “If you don’t do what I say, they’ll die.”
Will leaned forward until Briggs was forced to step back. “But you still won’t have the money.”
It was a calculated risk, but Will had been risking a lot all afternoon, and so far it had worked. Briggs wanted the money too much to give it up when it was so close.
When Briggs didn’t reply, Will shrugged. “Fine, I’ll just take it with me then.”
He turned to leave.
“I could shoot you right now and take it,” Briggs said, a note of desperation in his voice.
“No, you couldn’t.” Dan’s voice was an ominous growl. “Because I would stop you.”
Will walked a few more steps, his heart pounding despite his bravado.
“All right!” Briggs called. “I’ll take you to them.”
Will stopped and turned back.
“But only you. And leave your gun.”
Dan stepped forward. “No. I’m coming with you.”
Briggs glared at him. “I said, only him.”
Will took his revolver from his waistband and handed it to his brother. “It’s all right. I’ll be okay. You stay here.” He flicked his eyes in the direction of the marshal’s office along the street.
Dan shook his head. “I am not leaving you with this maniac.”
“Dan, I said it’s all right. I have to do this, for Daisy and Nicky.” Again he flicked his eyes pointedly towards the marshal’s office.
Again his brother shook his head, and Will had no idea whether or not he’d caught the hint.
Scowling, Daniel spun to Briggs. “If you hurt him…”
But Briggs was already mounting his horse.
Will climbed onto Ginger and looked down at his brother. “I’m going to get them back.”
Dan frowned but didn’t try to stop him. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed. Sara would never forgive me.”
With a small smile, Will turned Ginger to follow Briggs.
“You go in front,” Briggs said as they rode along Green Hill Creek’s main street.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out when we get there. And remember, if you do anything, you’ll never find the widow and her son, and they’ll die where they are.”
Will glanced back at Daniel where he stood watching them ride away. He hoped his brother had caught his silent urging to get Marshal Cade. Will wasn’t sure what they could do, but he trusted Dan to work it out.
Although he hadn’t yet moved from outside the saloon, which was a little concerning.
Trying not to be nervous, Will moved Ginger ahead of Briggs’ horse. His brother would know what to do. He always did. Mostly.
They rode almost to the edge of town before Briggs directed Will to turn left onto one of the side streets, and soon they were leaving the houses behind. Once in the open country, they increased their pace to a canter, with Briggs occasionally giving instructions and often glancing back to check no one was following. Will looked back too, but he didn’t see anyone. He truly was on his own.
No, not on his own. God was with him.
They traveled for more than half an hour, at first taking the road that led northwest out of town but then leaving the well-used routes to make their way through fields and trees.
Will was as familiar with the area around his home as anyone who’d spent their entire life there, and he wracked his brain for any idea as to where Briggs could be holding Daisy and Nicky captive. Perhaps a disused mine; there were plenty of those in the mountains, and they were traveling uphill. Or maybe a cave, or an abandoned homestead. Eventually, he gave up speculating on destinations and concentrated on what he’d do once they got there. And praying, of course. Always praying.
From their course, Will expected Briggs to take them up into the mountains, but at the foothills they skirted to the west until they reached a thick forest of gnarled pine. In the growing gloom of the early evening, they finally came to a collection of tumbledown buildings – the remains of a house and barns. From the piles of rotting tree trunks, Will guessed it had once belonged to a family who made their living selling timber, but the former owners were long gone and nature was reclaiming the site for its own.
“Get off,” Briggs ordered, gesturing with his gun. “Tie up your horse over there.” He indicated a hitching post that appeared to have escaped th
e worst of the degeneration.
Will did as he was told and then waited for Briggs to do the same.
“Round the back.” Briggs pointed to the house.
Will circled around the building to an overgrown yard behind. He drew in a sharp breath at the sight of Indiana tethered to a low tree branch. “Where are they?”
Briggs pointed his pistol at him. “Money first.”
With no other choice, Will pulled the roll of banknotes from his jacket and handed it over, trying not to think about the fact that there was now nothing to stop Briggs from simply killing him right there.
“It’s all here?” Briggs said, attempting to count one-handed while keeping his gun trained on Will.
“Two thousand dollars exactly.”
Briggs raised his eyebrows. “You won exactly two thousand dollars?”
“No, but that’s what you asked for.” And Will wasn’t going to give him a penny more.
“I knew you cheated. No way you could have won all this if you weren’t a cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat. I’m just good at poker. Just because you can’t do something doesn’t mean no one can.”
Briggs’ reply was no more than a grunt. Pushing the money into his pocket, he nodded at a wild shrub growing beside the back entrance to the house. “Over there.”
At first Will couldn’t see what he meant, but as he approached the shrub, he noticed its untended branches concealed a set of double doors angled into the ground beside the back stoop. A root cellar.
A new padlock and chain secured the closed doors.
Briggs tossed the key to Will and he unlocked it, threw the doors open, and rushed down into the darkness. “Daisy? Are you here?”
“Will!”
He couldn’t see anything in the gloomy cellar, but relief flooded him at the sound of her voice. “Is Nicky with you?”
“He’s here. We’re all right.”
“Will?” Nicky’s voice sounded small and frightened.
“I’m here, kid. It’s all right now. I’m going to take you home.”
A light flared as Briggs lit a storm lamp behind him.
The cellar was bigger than Will was expecting, a good twenty feet square, with a few cobweb-festooned broken boxes and an ancient, rusting plow slumped against the wall.